Nokia to cut another 1,700 jobs worldwide

Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, says it plans to cut another 1,700 jobs worldwide as part of cost-cutting measures.

The new lay-offs would affect people working at the company's device and markets units, as well as at its corporate development and global support divisions, the company said in a statement.

"Altogether these plans will affect approximately 1,700 employees globally. Where applicable, Nokia will start consultations with employee representatives about these plans," the company said in the statement.

Nokia's head of communications, Arja Suominen, said the new job cuts were part of previously announced plans to slash costs by around 700 million euros ($1.37 billion) or more over the next couple of years.

"We have since announced several initiatives. This is a new initiative," she said.

When Nokia in January reported a 69 per cent slump in its fourth-quarter earnings due to falling handset prices and sales, company chief Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said job cuts would be necessary but declined to forecast how many employees would be made redundant.

The company announced last month it planned to cut 1,000 jobs globally through voluntary departures.

After the announcement, Nokia saw its stock price slip 2.0 per cent to 8.81 euros per share in late morning trading on the Helsinki stock exchange, which was down 0.6 per cent.